See, people who are obese and sedentary just happen to have diets that are really high in fat (as a general rule). They are also more likely to have high cholesterol and heart failure. The dietary fat may have indirectly caused the problems, but it was the body fat (and the lack of activity) that was the main culprit. Yes, you can be in the “overweight” category and be perfectly healthy, but once you start getting up into +30 BMI (assuming you’re not really muscular), the dangers to your health begin to arise. The higher the BMI, the more at risk you are.

Not necessarily at higher risk of “mortality” but “morbidity.” This means life takes a nosedive with illness and infirmity at higher body weights. People still live a long while, but the obese are more likely to spend time in hospital beds with tubes in orifices and other nasty medical sh*t.

Eat cow. Put butter on stuff. Cheese it up. As long as calories are in check and body weight isn’t high, your health should be fine. (Side note: stay away from trans fats, because they’re way bad. The types of foods you find trans fats in are usually processed to hell. Processed food is the real enemy.)

So the saturated cow-cheese-butter fat isn’t that bad if you’re not overdoing it and don’t have a high percentage of body fat. And the avocado-salmon-olive kind of fats are good for you, so get on that. But overall, if you have a high percentage of fat in your diet, you’re at a higher risk of being fat, and that’s not good.

There are four reasons why eating fat can make you fat:

1. The thermic effect of food for fat is very low

What is the thermic effect of food? TEF is the calories food burns by being digested. Cool, right? When you eat protein, which has a high TEF, roughly 20% of those calories are freebies; they’re burned off because your digestive system has to work harder to process them.

Carbohydrates don’t have as high a TEF as protein, coming in at around 10%, but they still blow away the TEF of fat. Fat’s TEF is a subject for debate, but most put it at below 5% and as low as 2%.

So when you eat fat, very few of those calories are freebies. In the grand scheme of things, TEF isn’t a huge factor, but it all adds up.

2. Fat isn’t satiating

Dr. Raylene Reimer, a registered dietitian and associate professor of nutrition and metabolism at the University of Calgary, told me this about macronutrients and satiety: "Protein has the highest satiety factor of the three macronutrients. Carbohydrates come second, and fat is hardly satiating at all.”

This is a statement supported by research like this, this, this and this. As you’ll see in No. 4, it actually can have the opposite effect.

3. Fat is high in caloric density

This boils down to some basic math. Protein and carbohydrates only have four calories per gram, but fat has nine.

As an extreme example, an entire pound of fresh spinach (which has a high water content as well) has roughly the same number of calories as a single tablespoon of butter. Guess which one is more satisfying to your appetite? Which one is easier to consume a lot of? With fat, you get a big wallop of calories in a small volume of food, so it’s just a lot easier to shovel a bunch more in without making your stomach feel full.

4. Fat makes things taste great

Try this experiment. Take a piece of bread and toast it. Now eat it. No, not with butter, just by itself. Not so great, right?

Now toast another piece of bread, but this time put butter on it. Tastes way better, doesn’t it? You took a 100 calorie piece of toast, added 50 calories worth of butter, and that made it taste so much better you could eat two pieces. Maybe even three.

Our desire to eat fat dates back to Stone Age times, because for most of human history, we didn’t have a grocery store down the street. So our brains became wired via evolution to seek out foods that were high in energy value to help us store fat for the next time there was a drought or you were too chicken to chase down that mammoth and stab it to death so the tribe could have hairy elephant meat for the next few weeks.

A pile of research shows that fat makes food taste better, and therefore people eat more of it. So it’s not just added calories from fat, but added taste that makes you eat more. It’s not just buttered toast, but buttered popcorn, deep-fried foods, chicken with skin vs. without … This phenomenon has been investigated thoroughly by Dr. David Kessler in his excellent book The End of Overeating.

So, taking all this into consideration, it’s worth easing off on your fat intake simply because it’s a wise method of restricting overall caloric intake and keeping your body lean. At the end of the day, calories are what really matter, and a diet that is somewhat reduced in fat makes lower calorie consumption that much easier.

Some of this is true, except number 2. Saturated fats KILL the appetite. They take so long to break down and they don't cause a dump in insulin. The more swings in insulin the hungrier you'll be.

I agree that fats suck for getting ripped. They just don't work for that. They also suck for top athletic performance, which is why athletes typically chomp down 60% or more of their diet in carbs. But in all actuality, too many calories is not our problem but rather too little!

When I want to eat ALOT of calories, I avoid fats and up the carbs and protein.

None of this is true, it is completely ignorant of human metabolism and how we store body fat. There is only one way we store fat, through the hormone insulin, dietary fat doesn't stimulate insulin production. The average obese American eats a diet that is WAY too high in carbohydrates, specifically of the refined nature, that is the source of the problem, not dietary fat. Also, calories don't matter. Calories are a measure of thermal energy and your body isn't a steam engine.

None of this is true, it is completely ignorant of human metabolism and how we store body fat. There is only one way we store fat, through the hormone insulin, dietary fat doesn't stimulate insulin production. The average obese American eats a diet that is WAY too high in carbohydrates, specifically of the refined nature, that is the source of the problem, not dietary fat. Also, calories don't matter. Calories are a measure of thermal energy and your body isn't a steam engine.

I think you are right for the most part, but there is a clarification I'd consider. You are correct in the fat doesn't stimulate insulin, but if insulin is present when fats are in the gut, you can rest assured that the fatty acids and glycerol will be stored up into fat cells before carbohydrates do.

This is natural because it costs the body far less energy to convert glycerol and fatty acids into fat droplets, which are then added to the fat cell.

"It is also possible for fat cells to take up glucose and amino acids, which have been absorbed into the bloodstream after a meal, and convert those into fat molecules. The conversion of carbohydrates or protein into fat is 10 times less efficient than simply storing fat in a fat cell, but the body can do it. If you have 100 extra calories in fat (about 11 grams) floating in your bloodstream, fat cells can store it using only 2.5 calories of energy. On the other hand, if you have 100 extra calories in glucose (about 25 grams) floating in your bloodstream, it takes 23 calories of energy to convert the glucose into fat and then store it. Given a choice, a fat cell will grab the fat and store it rather than the carbohydrates because fat is so much easier to store."

So basically, you need to choose to either eat a high fat diet or a high carb diet, but certainly not both. If you choose the high carb diet, you must also choose a high protein and high fiber diet as well as avoiding simple sugars as much as possible. I have found this approach to be far superior to any other that I have tried, including high fat/low carb diets.

Fats will only be used as energy in the absence of glucose in the blood and glycogen in the muscle & liver. Otherwise, you'll use those first.

If fats are non-existent in the diet, you'll be readily using glucose and carbs for the main source of energy, especially with intense exercise. Since carbs are far less efficient to convert to fatty acids, and they aren't as caloricly dense, it is much harder and less lilkely to store them as fat assuming that you are on a very low fat diet. Again, this is only true with carbs that are broken down very slowly. Sugars, refined carbs, and carbohydrate meals lacking protein and fiber will cause fat gain, too due to the surge of unnecessary amounts of glucose in the blood stream. Your body will only use what it needs at that moment and store the rest for later use.

just some food for thought.

Also, Point 1, 3 & 4 are very true statements. Fats have a terrible TEF value, using very little energy to being stored up into fat cells, they are very caloric dense - the most of all three macro nutrients by far, and they do make things taste better when they are present.

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As a side note, it seems that this board has not discovered the reality that every "new" diet or approach, including Keto, Atkins & Paleo diets are all ancient methods with a new spin on them. There is no doubt that they have some benefit to the body but that all depends on the goal as well.

I would suggest for those who are anti-carb and pro-fat dieters to consider discovering what pro bodybuilders and trainers have been doing for a few decades now that has proven wild success. The diet I outlined above is a variation of such. It is counter-cultural, but the successful bodybuilders keep it to themselves.

I am in no way advocating to avoid fats altogether. You need them to remain healthy, especially Omega 3's and 6's. But you honestly don't need 20-30% like people try and tell you all the time.

Lol sounds good, moslty cocnut oil, mct oil, avocadoes, nuts lots snack on all day. I limit my protein to around 75-85 grams daily total. Fat around 140-160 grams I dont really care if i go over. If i do have carbs other than from the nuts only at my last meal by itself.

Fats dont make you fat , protein/carbs in excess make you fat. I currently do a 85-90% fat deit, and have lost over 90 pounds now. Sometimes i eat way more then i should and still lose weight.

Too much fats, like anything else, will make you fat just the same. I thought I covered very plainly that fat, without the presence of carbs, will not likely make you fatter, but when both are combined, you'll certainly get fatter. Likewise, a heavy carb diet without the presence of fats will not make you fat either, just perhaps cause you to have glycogen load and a little water weight.

Given the choice, when both fats and carbs are being metabolized in the body, the body will choose to put up the fat cells first. So technically, fats can make you fatter, lol.

Lol sounds good, moslty cocnut oil, mct oil, avocadoes, nuts lots snack on all day. I limit my protein to around 75-85 grams daily total. Fat around 140-160 grams I dont really care if i go over. If i do have carbs other than from the nuts only at my last meal by itself.

MCT oil, while a saturated fat, can hardly be considerd a normal "fat". It has a different metabolic pathway and in a nutshell, follows a path more closely to carbs than long chain fatty acis like most fats are. In fact, MCT's can travel thru the portal vein and into the liver for processing. From there, ketone bodies are produced as a result of a failing Krebs cycle.

It's no wonder you are losing weight. That is your ace card, man. Any large percentage of MCT in your diet will cause rapid fat burning as it releases alot of heat and provide immediate and clean energy without the need for insulin.

I have coconut oil in my few cups of morning coffee before hitting the weights as part of a modified IF plan. I usually break the fast with my PWO shake. I agree that it's the MCT's that really spark lipolysis. It's been working well for me as I've just started carb back loading on my workout days.
No noticeable BF gains but definitely strength increases.

The points here are brotastic- if your into jumps in conclusions. This is like level one kind of material for people who want to be healthy.

I'm surprised nothing like " fat makes you fat because its over twice as calorically dense " was in here. These points make me think "well, I guess that's kind of true, but that's not why..."

No mention of limited capacity to oxidize fat is made in here... This is why fat can make you far lol but regardless it's a bs article because it comes down to overall pre vs post prandial states and in vs out caloric use.

The points here are brotastic- if your into jumps in conclusions. This is like level one kind of material for people who want to be healthy.

I'm surprised nothing like " fat makes you fat because its over twice as calorically dense " was in here. These points make me think "well, I guess that's kind of true, but that's not why..."

No mention of limited capacity to oxidize fat is made in here... This is why fat can make you far lol but regardless it's a bs article because it comes down to overall pre vs post prandial states and in vs out caloric use.

He almost eluded to this statement, actually. But in the end, I think he was making a statement that it is much harder to eat a caloric surplus when you have a low fat diet. That notion is not necessarily true either, since high saturated fats keep you full (at least they do for me) for a long period of time (up to 4 hours in my case).

It is very basic, but honestly man just go on the "nutritional science" forum on here and see how many members on this forum are ignorant to the entire metabolic process. The majority of members on this board are anti-carb dieters that have tunnel vision when it comes to fats vs. carbs. They don't understand that there is more to it than how much insulin is in your blood. The correlation to fat gain goes much deeper than insulin & carbs. It is a system that works differently under various circumstances. It is good for this board to hear that fats don't live up to the hype that people make it seem.

MCT oil, while a saturated fat, can hardly be considerd a normal "fat". It has a different metabolic pathway and in a nutshell, follows a path more closely to carbs than long chain fatty acis like most fats are. In fact, MCT's can travel thru the portal vein and into the liver for processing. From there, ketone bodies are produced as a result of a failing Krebs cycle.

It's no wonder you are losing weight. That is your ace card, man. Any large percentage of MCT in your diet will cause rapid fat burning as it releases alot of heat and provide immediate and clean energy without the need for insulin.

Yes I know, mct oil is awesome just a littke bit though not to much or it gives me the ****s :(, Like I said if i have carvs usually at ny last meal I eat it by itself, andbecause im eating csrbs st night my insulin/cortisol is lower and it dosnet make me gain fat.
My typicall day off last meal (which us supposed to be once a week but is usually both days in a row) is 2-4 beers, and pizza/ice cream lol.

Yes I know, mct oil is awesome just a littke bit though not to much or it gives me the ****s :(, Like I said if i have carvs usually at ny last meal I eat it by itself, andbecause im eating csrbs st night my insulin/cortisol is lower and it dosnet make me gain fat.
My typicall day off last meal (which us supposed to be once a week but is usually both days in a row) is 2-4 beers, and pizza/ice cream lol.

Wish more people would research and learn that insulin is low at night/ evening so it's not as apt to be jammed into fat cells.. Especially if you drained your glucose levels through intense training during the day

Wish more people would research and learn that insulin is low at night/ evening so it's not as apt to be jammed into fat cells.. Especially if you drained your glucose levels through intense training during the day

Correct. First meal in AM and post-workout are free cheats without the consequences.